I have been a fan of Sachin Sir since I was in class V. I developed an interest in cricket watching him. May I say that I used to play cricket in school and later on in life also got selected for LS College in an Inter College tournament. But I was never given an opportunity to play and our games teacher ridiculed me once by asking me to go and meet Sachin Sir if I was a diehard fan. He had no idea what Sachin Sir meant to me and in fact had done me a favor. Back in 2002 I went to Jamshedpur to watch Master play in an ODI against West Indies. I still remember I went to Jamshedpur riding my bicycle. However, Master did not play that game. Before that I saw him playing an ODI at Eden Gardens on January 19, 2002 against England. In that same series I watched the fourth ODI at Green Park in Kanpur on January 28. My journey with Sachin sir had started.
First meeting with Master
During the TVS Cup (tri-series involving India, New Zealand and Australia from October 23 – November 18 2003, I went to Mumbai to watch the fourth ODI at the Wankhede stadium. I met him for the first time at Trident Hotel. He asked me to visit his house. I was allowed inside and given juice to drink. He gave me a jersey and a ticket to watch the match. It was a dream come true for me. Before I left his house, he asked me whether I would want to watch more matches.
In the next match against New Zealand in Cuttack on November 6, 2003 I jumped into the ground and touched his feet. Security immediately rushed inside and caught me. Sachin Sir told the security guys not to beat me and let me go.
I went to Bangalore to watch the following match against Australia at the Chinnaswamy stadium. But I could not meet him. In the next game against New Zealand at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium on November 15, Sachin Sir scored a century. I thought to myself that the last time I met him India lost the game. But this time not only was India on the verge of winning the game but he also scored a hundred. So I jumped again and ran into the ground to meet him. The police took me to the Secunderabad PS and gave me a good thrashing before releasing me at night. I could not attend the final at Eden Gardens in which India lost.
I went to Mumbai and met Sir again in his house. He scolded me and said not to jump inside the ground again. The only time I jumped again was in 2010 when Harbhajan Singh scored a century against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.
Extracted with permission from Sachin@50 Celebrating A Maestro, Simon and Schuster. To be published on 24 April for Sachin Tendulkar’s 50th birthday.
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